


Getting Lost In The Dark Is My Favourite Part

by fortunehasgivenup



Series: And did you know that I'm wild for your skin [5]
Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: AU, Body Image, Cuddling, Exes, F/M, Family, Hand Jobs, Oral Sex, Post-Divorce, Tattoos, dad Rio, parenting, tattoo artist - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2020-07-07 20:07:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19857289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fortunehasgivenup/pseuds/fortunehasgivenup
Summary: Beth and Rio spend time with each other’s kids. Beth has to deal with Dean’s (not so) sudden desire to control her life and shares more of her hangups with Rio.





	Getting Lost In The Dark Is My Favourite Part

Beth knocked on the door of Rio’s apartment and waited for a moment. When there was no answer, she knocked louder. 

Still no answer. 

Had she come to the right apartment?

Right as she began to pull out her phone to give him a call, the door opened, a smiling Marcus peering around it.

“Hi Marcus,” Beth greeted him. “Is your dad home?”

There was the sound of a door opening, then footsteps.

“Pop, how many times I gotta tell you, no opening the door?” Rio appeared in the doorway, bending down to scoop Marcus into his arms. “Could be anybody.”

“Yeah but it’s Jane’s mom,” Marcus said, latching onto his dad’s neck.

“Did you know that before you opened the door?” Rio asked, stepping aside and waving Beth in. 

The first thing that she noticed was that the place was big, but had that odd use of space so many open plan builds had. From a quick glance around, it looked like the only door in the place aside from the one she’d just come through was on the bathroom.

The exposed brick walls were broken up by art and, in one place, a TV. A few large windows let in light on two walls.

Marcus sighed, “No." He perked up a little and asked hopefully, "Is Jane here too?”

Beth turned her attention back to the pair of them. “Sorry honey, she’s with her dad this weekend.”

“Remember how I said Elizabeth was coming for dinner?” Rio walked to the kitchen area and deposited Marcus on the counter. Beth followed, only to stop short when Rio turned in her direction and ducked his head for a quick kiss. “Hey. You found the place okay?”

“It’s not hard to find,” she said, sidestepping him to put her bag on the counter. “This needs to go in the fridge.”

Rio chuckled. “Lucky for you, we got some space in there.” He went to take it from the bag, but Beth put her hand over it.

“It’s a surprise.”

He raised an eyebrow, but put it in the fridge, bag and all.

“What kind of surprise?” Marcus asked, kicking his legs back and forth. “Because the last time I got a surprise, it was a sugar free candy.” His face twisted in disgust.

Rio’s hand on Beth’s back directed her out of the kitchen space. “You’re not cooking,” he scolded. “And it was a sugar free sucker because it was the dentist. She can’t go around giving you guys candy after lecturing you and your parents about dental hygiene.”

“Why not?” Marcus asked.

Rio checked something on the stove, then cracked a few eggs into a frying pan. “Remember what we were talking about the other day about people saying one thing and doing the opposite? Want something to drink?”

“Water please,” Beth told him.

“Crates for hippos?” Marcus guessed, a thoughtful look on his face as he tried to remember. “It was something like that.”

“Hypocrites,” Rio replied, fetching a water filter from the fridge. “It would be hypocritical of your dentist to tell you not to eat too much sugar and then give you something sugary.”

Marcus’ head tilted in consideration. “Like how you tell me to eat my vegetables but you don’t eat broccoli unless Tía Lora tells you that you have to.”

Rio paused, midway through pouring Beth a glass of water, and met Beth’s eye, clearly hiding a grin. “Yeah, Marcus, just like that.”

“Can I help with something?” Beth offered. Rio shook his head and placed the glass before her.

“You’re a guest and that means you have to relax!” Marcus explained.

“What about a tour?” She asked Marcus. “You can show me around the place.”

Marcus grinned, showing his still slightly gap toothed smile. “Yeah!” He held out his arms, so Beth lifted him down from the counter. “This is the kitchen,” he told her, very serious. “Me and my dad are really good at cooking.”

Beth heard Rio laugh quietly, but she nodded. “Good to hear, considering I’m about to let you two feed me.”

“Umm, this is where we watch TV,” Marcus led her to the little seating area, a big screen TV filling up the space between two windows. “Dad likes baseball and soccer and then on weekends, we watch cartoons. This is my spot.” He hopped onto the couch. “And that’s where Dad sits,” he pointed to the opposite end.

Beth perched on the arm of the couch. “Do you like soccer better than baseball?”

He shook his head. “I like both and I play baseball too. But I only see Jane at soccer.”

“Maybe we could come and watch one of your baseball games some time,” Beth offered. “If you’d like.”

“Yeah!” Marcus slid off the couch, then led her across the wide open space to the only door in the condo. “This is the bathroom. You can use it if you have to. Dad switched all the towels before you came over.”

“Thank you,” Beth responded, following as Marcus ran into the next alcove.

She could see why as soon as she got a good look at it. 

It was Marcus’ space. The chest of drawers was low and on top of it, someone had installed shelving for lots of books and stuffed animals. “This must be your bedroom,” she commented.

“Uh huh,” he replied as Beth took in how neat it was. Part of her knew that this wasn’t unusual either. It wasn’t something that they’d done for her benefit. Rio was a tidy, organized person and she imagined that Marcus had picked that up from his dad.

“My dad did this for me.”

Marcus pointed towards the main wall and Beth turned. Above the bed, there was a massive mural. It was mostly abstract, but over the colourful background, he’d added thought bubbles like in a comic book. Each bubble showed a variation on the same subject - Marcus. In one, he was holding a lightsaber. In another, kicking a soccer ball. Another showed him wearing a Spiderman suit.

“Are you crying?” Marcus whispered.

Beth blinked and realized that her eyes were a little wet. She laughed.

“Dad says it’s okay to cry,” he told her, reaching out to take her hand.

“It’s just a very nice piece of art,” she told Marcus, twining their fingers together. “Your dad did it?”

Marcus nodded. “He adds new ones sometimes. This one is the newest!” He tugged her towards the wall and explained that they’d been reading King Arthur, so Rio had painted Marcus pulling a sword from a stone.

“Tour almost done?” Rio called out. “Dinner will be ready in a few.”

“Okay!” Marcus called back. “Here, I’ll show you the rest.”

Next was another alcove that Rio used as a closet. It was so neatly laid out that it almost looked like one of those upscale boutiques where they only put out one of each item and you had to ask the staff to get your size while they judged everything about you.

Last was Rio’s bed. 

The kitchen was fully visible from it, so when Beth looked up, she saw that he was watching the two of them, a smile on his face as he carried a plate to the dining table. He caught her looking, but didn’t say anything as Marcus told her about how comfortable his dad’s bed was and how Marcus wasn’t allowed to jump on it, but sometimes he did it anyways.

“Time to eat,” Rio called them over and Marcus led her back, still holding her hand. He took her right to her chair.

“Thank you, Marcus,” Beth took a seat, “it was a very good tour.”

Rio smoothed his son’s hair down as he settled into the third chair, opposite Beth.

“I’ll say grace,” Marcus announced, reaching out his hands for theirs. Beth and Rio each took one, then joined theirs as well. Rio didn’t say anything, just rubbed the inside of Beth’s wrist. “I’m thankful for the food we’re gonna eat and whatever Miss Beth brought that’s a surprise. I’m thankful for my dad and for Miss Beth and Jane, even though Jane’s not here. And I guess probably Emma, Danny, and Kenny too. And my abuela and -“

“Maybe we just say we’re thankful for family?” Rio suggested.

“I’m thankful for my family,” Marcus said. “Amen.”

Beth knew enough about saying grace that she repeated it back to him, along with Rio.

“Jane says you have a dog.” Marcus leaned forward to carefully lift his glass of water as Rio began to serve them. To Beth’s surprise, he’d made huevos rancheros.

He’d messaged her to ask if she had any allergies or things that she didn’t eat. She wasn’t sure what she thought he might have made, but she smiled at him as he filled her plate and handed it back.

Beth nodded. “His name is Buddy. He’s a Golden Retriever.”

“Can I come over one day and play with him?” Marcus asked, putting his glass down. “I really like dogs but my dad says that we can’t have one because we live in an apartment.”

“They need space,” Rio said, “otherwise they’ll be sad.”

Marcus looked at Beth.

“Buddy does love to run around a lot,” she told him. “I’m sure he’d be happy to have someone else to run around with. I know that Jane would.”

He swung his head back to his dad.

“Maybe this week,” Rio suggested.

“I’ll take a look at our schedule and let you know,” Beth said.

“I’ve got Tuesday and Wednesday off this week. Maybe one of those will work out.”

Marcus was very carefully spearing little bits of tomato and munching on them as his eyes bounced between Beth and Rio. “I’m free any day,” he told Beth with an air of confidence.

Rio chuckled into his hand and Beth smiled.

“Well,” she said, “we’ll set something up so that you can meet Buddy. I think Jane’s excited to show you the treehouse too.”

Marcus’ eyes widened. “You have a treehouse?”

“Jane didn’t tell you?” He shook his head. “We have a treehouse.”

He looked over at his dad.

“We’ll set something up,” Rio told him.

Marcus looked like he was going to press for a more concrete answer, so Beth slid in.

“Did you draw any of the pictures that your dad has up?” She asked Marcus, who was happy to point to the ones that he had made, which Rio had framed and hung alongside an eclectic mix of art.

When it came time for dessert, Rio finally let her in the kitchen to gather what she needed to serve them. 

“What is it?” Marcus asked after he had helped Rio clear the dishes and bring out bowls and spoons at Beth’s instructions.

Beth uncovered the bowl. “Pudding. With cookie crumbs and gummy worms.”

Rio gave her a look, but Marcus was already pushing his bowl towards her.

“Did you crush up Oreos?” Marcus peered at the bowl as Beth spooned some pudding for him.

“Kind of,” Beth explained. “I made my own Oreos and pudding. I did buy the gummy worms at the store though.”

She passed him back his serving and held up a bowl to Rio. He nodded.

Marcus was almost vibrating with excitement while he waited for the adults to get their servings and the second that Beth’s bowl made contact with the table, he dug in.

Marcus was pretty much lost to his sweets as Beth asked Rio about the loft. Apparently it was hot in the summer, cold in the winter. 

Every so often, Marcus would offer his opinion. He liked all the space. He liked not having doors. He liked in the summer when there was fireworks outside and he would sit on the fire escape with Rio to watch.

By the time he was done, he had chocolate on his lips, but Rio didn’t even need to prompt him to wipe his mouth on his napkin.

“That was really good,” Marcus told her, moving so that he was kneeling on his chair. “Thank you!”

“You are most welcome,” Beth told him.

“Jane says you make really good cakes,” he went on.

Beth nodded. “I like to think so. It’s my job and people are willing to buy them.”

“It’s my dad’s birthday soon,” Marcus said innocently.

“Marcus,” Rio warned.

Marcus looked to Rio.

“Why don’t you go play for a bit, pop?” Rio reached over and rubbed the back of Marcus’ head.

Marcus did just that and when Beth reached out to pick up the dirty dishes, Rio knocked her hand aside.

“I told you, you’re not lifting a hand,” Rio scolded her. “Go sit down on the couch or something.”

Beth smiled up at him as he got out of his seat to begin to put everything away.

“You’re going to spoil me,” Beth said.

Rio leaned down. “Good. Someone should. Wine?”

Beth nodded, but stopped when he kissed her, far filthier than Beth had expected, though when he pulled away she noticed that he had blocked them from Marcus with the rest of his body. A little flustered, Beth moved to the couch.

It didn’t take Rio long to move everything to the kitchen sink to soak and come to join her, bringing the promised glass of wine with him.

“Are you religious?” Beth asked, her mind going to Marcus’ prayer before dinner.

Rio snorted. “Nah. My mother’s a devout Catholic though, so she comes on Sunday to take Marcus to church. He doesn’t complain too much, but that might be because they go out for doughnuts after.”

Beth laughed, nearly spilling her wine. “What, wasn’t for you?” She set her wineglass down on the coffee table.

He shrugged, then bent to grab Beth’s feet and lifted them into his lap. “I went when I was a kid, just like Marcus does. Hell, at one point, I thought I was gonna be a priest, if you can believe it.” 

Something on Beth’s face must have showed how little she believed that because he laughed. “Don’t worry, ma. Puberty hit and I figured that life wasn’t for me. It introduced me to a lot of stuff though - the art, how important ritual can be. What about you?”

“We went sometimes. Christmas and Easter definitely, then whenever my mom got particularly worried about the idea of death. We’d go for a few weeks, then it would taper off again until the next time she was freaked out.” 

Beth squirmed as Rio began to massage her feet. “Rio,” she hissed.

“I’m right here, you don’t need to say my name.” His grin was absolutely wicked, so she jabbed him in the stomach with her heel. He grunted, moving lightning fast to grab both of her feet and hold them in place. Beth tried to wriggle free, but he was stronger. Plus, she didn’t exactly want to get free. “What is it?”

“Don’t tease,” Beth sat up.

“What, this?” He squeezed one of her feet. His mouth opened slightly in consideration. “Huh. Good to know,” he said, leaning in towards her and lowering his voice, “for our next sleepover.”

Beth shivered, clamping her hand around one of his wrists. He tickled the bottom of her foot, apparently to make a point, then stopped, sinking into the couch.

“Dinner was delicious, by the way,” she told him. “What made you pick huevos rancheros?”

Rio smiled. “Worried that I’m a one trick pony or something?”

Beth rolled her eyes. “I’m just curious!”

“When I was a kid, I used to make them with my dad’s mom whenever we went to visit her. They just,” he shrugged a shoulder, “make me think of good things, I guess. Plus, I’ve got them down.”

“Yes, you do,” Beth agreed, settling a hand on his forearm.

There was a pause as Beth leaned back.

“My mom wants to meet you.”

As soon as he said it, she almost wanted him to go back to teasing her.

“My sister does too,” he said, “but we’re gonna save her for later.”

“Oh?” Beth swallowed. “She does?”

Rio nodded. “She wants to meet you and your babies, but I said it was probably better to start with you.”

But if Beth took her kids, they could distract Rio’s mother from finding anything wrong with her. Maybe she should -

“What’s going through that head of yours?” He asked.

“Whether or not having the kids there to run interference would be a benefit,” Beth admitted.

He grinned, but shook his head. “Don’t worry about my mother. She’ll like you.”

“You can’t promise that.” Beth’s mind flashed back to the first time that she’d met Dean’s parents - the tightening of his father’s eyes, the pursing of his mother’s lips when Dean had brought her in. Dean’s mother had softened to her over the years, but Boland Senior had always seemed to believe that Beth wasn’t good enough for Dean and he’d never let her forget it.

Rio patted her shin. “She already likes you, trust me.”

Beth glared at him.

“She likes the look on my face when I talk about you,” he said softly. “And Marcus has been talking you up too.”

“He has?” Beth asked, glancing over towards Marcus, who was sitting on the floor in his room and drawing in a big sketchpad. His tongue was between his teeth in concentration as he drew something with a red marker.

Rio nodded. “He says you’re really pretty.” Beth groaned. “And that you’re nice and you always pack extra juice and snacks.”

“Because you never stop eating!”

“Yeah,” Rio said, “because you keep feeding me.”

She glared at him. “So it’s a ‘if you give a mouse a cookie’ situation, but it’s ‘if you give a man a juice box’?”

He hummed. “Oh sweetheart, you and me both know that a juice box wasn’t the first thing you gave me.”

Beth shivered at the clear innuendo and the promise in his voice. The reminder of having sex with him in the upstairs of the tattoo shop made her squeeze her thighs together.

Rio noticed.

“None of that now,” he scolded.

“I’m not the one who brought it up!” Beth poked him with her toe.

Rio opened his mouth to reply, but the sound of footsteps on the wooden floor warned them of Marcus’ approach.

“Hey pop,” Rio greeted him easily, not letting go of Beth’s legs.

Marcus didn’t seem bothered, just handed his sketchbook to Beth. “I drew this for you.”

“You did?” Beth sat up as much as she could and accepted the book.

From first glance, it was clear that Marcus had an artist’s eye and a talented hand even if he still had a ways to go before he had Rio’s skill. He had drawn a picture of the three of them sitting at the table, a shared speech bubble overhead saying “YUM”.

Beth’s throat got a little big clogged up. “Thank you, Marcus. It’s wonderful.”

“Do you like it?” He asked, sinking down to kneel on the floor, his elbows resting on the couch cushions. “One day I want to be an artist like my dad. He says that if I want to do that, I have to practice and practice and practice.”

“I love it,” she assured him, reaching out to rest her hand briefly on his arm. “Do I get to take this home with me?”

He nodded. “I’ll take it out of the book.” She passed it back to him and he sat on the rug, carefully tearing out the page and then folding the perforated line back and forth until he could remove it cleanly. “I’ll put it on top of your bag so you don’t forget.”

“Sounds good.” Beth shared a smile with him, collapsing back against the cushions when he got up to race off. When she looked at Rio, he was watching her with a soft expression. He didn’t say anything, just leaned over and brushed his lips against hers once, retreating before Marcus returned.

His gift of the drawing appeared to indicate that he was done with alone time and he joined them on the couch, necessitating the release of Beth’s legs. As he let go, Rio smirked at her. They spent some time talking about school - he was going into first grade in the fall and he was a little nervous.

“You’ll be okay,” Beth told him. “My kids were nervous about first grade too, but know what?”

“What?” Marcus asked.

“Everyone else is nervous too. You’re all in grade one for the first time together and your teacher will help you get used to it.”

Marcus nodded. “Is Jane nervous too?”

Beth laughed. “Sometimes,” she said. “Other times, I think she’s ready to storm into the school all by herself.”

“I wish we were going to be in the same class,” he sighed. Rio had explained that Marcus’ school was between Rio’s and Cassie’s homes in order to make sure that the commute would be easy no matter who he was staying with.

“Hey,” Beth touched his cheek lightly, “you’ll be just fine. And besides, I’m sure you can come over after school sometimes. We’ll still play in the park too.”

Marcus perked up a little. “Yeah?”

Beth nodded.

The visit wound down after that as Marcus began to flag.

When she was at the door, Beth made sure that Marcus saw her place his drawing very carefully in her bag. His chest puffed out a little, making him look so much like Rio she almost had to laugh.

“Bye Miss Beth,” he said.

“Bye Marcus,” Beth returned the farewell. “Thank you for the picture and for the wonderful tour.”

“Thank you for the pudding!” Marcus grinned up at her.

Rio smoothed Marcus’ hair down. “Go get your pajamas on, pop. I’m just gonna say bye.”

Marcus nodded, but before he went off to get ready, he turned back to Beth. “Goodnight!”

“Night Marcus.”

Beth stepped out of the apartment, followed by Rio. He left the door open a crack.

“I had a nice time,” Beth told Rio. “He’s a sweet kid.”

“Yeah, he’s on his best behaviour around you.” Rio grinned. “Gummy worms in pudding?”

Beth laughed, leaning forward to kiss him briefly. “I know what boys like.”

He nodded, brushing their noses together. “I suppose you do. Text me when you get home?”

“Okay,” Beth agreed easily. “Goodnight.”

“Night.” But he didn’t pull away. Instead, he pressed her against the wall outside of his apartment and kissed her. She whimpered, then lifted her arms to wrap them around his neck.

She could be a couple minutes late.

—————

Beth was, in fact, late getting home, so when she pulled up to her house, Ruby and Annie had already arrived. Luckily, they had copies of the key, so they’d already started making popcorn and helped themselves to booze.

“Where you been?” Annie cried out as soon as Beth walked in, half a Twizzler hanging out of her mouth.

“I had dinner at Rio’s with him and Marcus,” Beth replied, snatching up a liquorice for herself, shooting a quick _Home!_ to Rio with her other hand.

Ruby passed Beth a glass of bourbon. “And how’d that go?”

“It went well.”

Annie scoffed. “You’re just mad you didn’t get to jump his bones.” Lifting her own wine glass, she deposited the end of the Twizzler into it and used it as a straw.

“Seriously?” Beth made a face. Annie pretended she didn’t see it.

Ruby poked her in the side. “Come on, spill. You’ve been keeping it close to the chest.”

“We’ve had three dates!” Beth threw up her hands. “We’re not pledging ourselves to one another for the rest of our lives or anything.”

“Yeah, but you’re boning him,” Annie said, eating the rest of the Twizzler. “And spending time with him _and_ his son. It’s not just casual.”

Beth flushed. “Can we at least do this on the couch where it’s comfortable?”

Annie grinned.

“Don’t say it,” Beth hissed.

“That’s what she said,” Annie said it anyways, earning a groan from Ruby. “But yes, couch sounds good. I worked ten hours today and there’s a good chance that once I’m sitting down, I’m not getting up. Just an FYI.”

“You know you can stay over any time,” Beth reminded her sister. Grabbing her glass and a bowl of popcorn, Beth led the charge to the living room, where they sprawled out in a familiar configuration.

She gave them a rundown of her dinner. At one point, Annie got up to fetch the drawing from Beth’s bag and when she came back, she had her hand over her heart.

“Can I adopt him?” Annie asked, passing the drawing to Ruby.

Ruby smiled at the picture. “So he likes you. That’s good. How about your bunch?”

Beth took a long sip of bourbon. “Jane likes him, obviously. He hasn’t spent much time with the older three and you know how shy Emma can be with new people.”

Annie and Ruby nodded.

“Danny and Kenny have their own activities a lot of the time, so they haven’t been around. The plan is for him to come over one day next week,” Beth told them. “Have lunch, make it a little more casual so it doesn’t freak the kids out too much.”

“Dean making trouble?” Ruby asked, grabbing the wine bottle to top up her and Annie’s glasses.

Beth shrugged. “He knows that Rio and I are dating, but I haven’t exactly told him about all of it. I need to.” She groaned. “He’s going to be a dick about it when I tell him that Rio’s going to be spending time around the kids, isn’t he?”

“Yup,” Annie replied. “But there’s nothing Deansie can do, is there?” She sounded slightly unsure.

“If Rio was actually a threat to the safety of our children, maybe.” Beth lifted a shoulder. “But he’s not and Dean is not allowed to tell me how to live my life. He doesn’t get to try to push the good people out of my life because of his own failures.”

She turned her head towards Ruby, who was staring at her.

“Do I have something on my face?” Beth rubbed the area around her mouth.

Ruby shook her head. “I’m just -“

“Happy to see you happy,” Annie finished when Ruby trailed off.

“No,” Ruby said. “Well, that too. But it’s nice to see you taking a stand for yourself. Beth of a year ago would not have said something like that and I am so damn proud of you.” Ruby reached out and squeezed Beth’s hand.

Beth sniffed. “Oh.”

“It’s like I’m seeing you again - you, Beth, the girl who drove her mom’s car into my garbage can. Hadn’t realized how much I’d missed her,” Ruby said.

Beth stared at her oldest friend, throat closing up so she couldn’t say anything in response other than throw her arms around her and hug her tightly.

“God,” Annie croaked, “you’re going to make me tear up, you jerks.”

Ruby hugged back. “I love you.”

Annie came in from the other side. “I love you too. Both of you.”

Beth laughed. “I love you both too. Don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Probably die of boredom,” Annie mumbled into Beth’s shoulder.

Beth blinked away tears as they separated, though they stayed together on the couch rather than spreading out. “Did I tell you about Marcus’ bedroom?”

“No,” Annie said. “Just that your man lives in a place with no fucking doors. Looks like he’s going to have to stay over here.”

Beth shoved at her sister. “Shut up,” she groaned. “I gotta tell you about this while I’m already teary or I’ll just start all over again.”

If either of them had any reservations about Rio still, they were gone by the time Stan picked up Ruby.

“I’m gonna want to meet this new man of yours,” Stan said when he came to the door. “Ruby’s been telling me you’re seeing someone.”

Beth groaned and started to close the door on him. Laughing, Stan retreated back to the car to wait for Ruby as she said bye.

“Night you two,” Ruby said, giving each of them a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Don’t stay up too late and no scary movies.”

“Sure, mom,” Annie teased her back. “Enjoy your night alone with Stan.”

Ruby rolled her eyes as she leaned in to hug Beth, then she was gone.

Annie crashed with Beth, curling up in her bed with her like she always did as a kid when they had what Annie had called “sleepovers” even though it was just the room across the hall.

“You really like him,” Annie said as they drifted off.

Beth hummed. “I really like him. I guess I should thank you for introducing us.”

Annie kicked her in the shin, though it didn’t seem to be on purpose. “You would have met at soccer anyways.”

“But we might not have talked, connected,” Beth admitted. “He can be kind of intimidating at first.”

“Yeah, but he’s a marshmallow inside,” Annie agreed. “He likes you too.”

“Did he tell you that?” Beth asked.

She could see a vague movement that must have been Annie shrugging. “Maybe, maybe not. I can’t tell you anything shared within the bounds of tattoo time.”

“Really?” Beth shifted, preparing to tickle Annie. “Because I can make you talk.”

Annie’s hand came out and whacked Beth in the face. “If you tickle me, I’ll pee in your bed.”

“Ew!” Beth hissed, then shoved Annie towards the edge. Annie latched onto Beth with a yelp. 

“Shut up, I’m not going to tickle you. I’m trying to go to sleep.”

“Suuuuuure,” Annie said, settling down. “Night Beth.”

“Night, Annie.”

———————

Rio dropped Marcus’ backpack down at the door and bent down to give him a hug. “See you Tuesday, okay?”

“Bye,” Marcus said, hugging him back. “I’m gonna call you after baseball, okay?”

“Sounds good, pop.” Rio ruffled his hair and straightened. Marcus picked up his backpack and headed to his room.

Cassie was grinning.

“What?” Rio asked.

“So you’ve got yourself a serious girlfriend, huh?”

Rio sighed. “Yeah, I guess.”

Cassie laughed. “I hear you sit together at soccer. On the same blanket.” She wagged her eyebrows suggestively.

He ignored that. “She and Jane were thinking of coming to watch a baseball game with me sometime, if that’s cool.”

“Of course!” Cassie leaned against the doorframe. “I’d love to meet them. Marcus has all kinds of stories about Jane from soccer. Thanks for taking that, by the way. It’s been crazy at work.” She rubbed her temples, but didn’t stop smiling. “I hear that Miss Beth makes great cookies too. So make sure she knows that I can be bought with butterscotch.”

Rio shook his head. “That boy has a one track mind.”

“Just wait ’til he hits puberty,” Cassie joked.

“Don’t remind me,” Rio groaned.

“Hey,” Cassie said, “I’m just trying to embrace the inevitable. It’s gonna happen.”

He scowled at her, but it just bounced off her good mood. “I’ll pick him up Tuesday.”

Cassie nodded. “I’m almost done with training some of the newbies and my schedule is going to settle down a bit. I’ll be able to come to some of his soccer games.”

“You got the schedule?” Rio asked.

“Yup, you sent it at the beginning of the season. But it doesn’t say which days we’re responsible for snacks and I was thinking that I can take the next one.”

“I’ll send that along,” Rio told her, stepping away from the door. “Anything else?”

Cassie smiled as she shook her head. “Just remember, butterscotch!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Rio drawled. “See you.”

“Take care!”

———————

“Rio will be coming over this week to spend some time with me and the kids,” Beth told Dean.

There was silence on the other end of the phone. “No,” he finally said.

“It wasn’t a question, Dean,” she said, “it was an informative statement. I don’t want you to be surprised when the kids talk about him.”

“You don’t even know this guy!” Dean snapped.

Beth shut her eyes and took a deep breath in, deep breath out. Opened them again. “Funny, considering it turns out that I didn’t know you, did I?” He was silent. “Rio is a business owner. He has a six year old son, named Marcus, who Jane adores.”

“So you’ll fuck the kid’s dad?”

Beth’s fist balled up. “Dean, let’s be clear. You have no right to knowledge about my sex life. The only reason that I’m sharing with you at all is because you’re still the father of my children and I think that you should be informed of changes in their lives.”

“How long have you even known him?” Dean wanted to know. She could practically hear him digging in his heels.

“Dean,” Beth lifted her shoulders and assumed a confident stance in front of the mirror, “what do I like to drink? What do I take in my coffee? Do you even know?”

“Chardonnay,” he answered after a too long pause. “Cream and sugar.”

“Bourbon,” Beth said. “I hate chardonnay. And I take milk.”

“No you don’t,” Dean tried to protest.

“Yes, Dean, I do.” Beth looked herself in the eye. “Listen to yourself. You’re trying to tell me what I do and don’t like. You don’t listen to me. You never have.”

“And Rio does?” There was a hint of contempt as he said the name.

Beth laughed. 

“Yes, yes he does. But it’s more than that. It’s more than the sex,” she replied. “He wants me to listen to myself. Maybe you’re genuinely concerned about him, but maybe you’re still mad that I had the audacity to tell you to get out. If it’s the first, we can discuss it, but if it’s the second, I really don’t have anything more to say to you.”

Dean was silent.

“I’ll pick up the kids tomorrow just like we planned,” Beth said. “I’ll see you then.”

She hung up and tossed her phone onto the bed so that she wouldn’t look at it. Dean would probably start calling and texting in about a minute, once he’d built up what he would see as righteous indignation.

Hands on her hips, she felt the urge to make something.

Chocolate chip cookies, she decided. Grabbing her phone on the way to the kitchen, she checked and saw that she already had two missed calls from Dean, but she also had a picture message from Rio. She opened it.

It was of the upstairs at the shop, the vantage point making it obvious that he was sitting at the desk. One of the big windows was opened inwards, probably to take advantage of the breeze and what remained of the evening sun. He had his computer and a bunch of papers on the desk.

_Thinking about you._

Beth bit the inside of her cheek and started to pull ingredients out.

Setting the eggs in a bowl of warm water and cutting the butter to soften, she started to measure the dry ingredients. _Thinking about you._ God, was she supposed to reply to that? How?

“I’m thinking about you too?” She mumbled to herself. “I can’t stop thinking about you.”

Dating had, in some ways, been a whole lot easier in the 90s. She hadn’t had to worry about trying to reply to a text message. Then again, she also hadn’t had four kids, a slightly shaky custody agreement, and a business. It had been phone calls. Holding hands in the school halls. Getting felt up in the back of a car.

Okay, maybe some things were still the same. Beth smiled to herself at the memory of Rio lying under her in the back of the van. How his face looked as he came.

She levelled the flour and dumped it in the sifter with the baking soda and baking powder.

Maybe she was just overthinking it all.

Beth picked up her phone and opened their message thread, typing out two words and hitting send before she could think about it some more.

_Me too._

A few minutes later, he replied, _You know, I find myself with nothing to do tonight._

Beth rolled her eyes. _Is that you trying to get an invitation?_

_Depends. What are you doing right now?_

She sent him a photo of the recipe.

_I’m not above begging._

She smiled at his response and typed out her own. _I’d rather see that in person._

_I’ll be there in thirty._

————————

“Want me to fight him?” Rio asked after Beth finished recounting her phone call.

“What?” Beth shrieked, nearly dropping her spatula.

“Dean,” Rio said, imbuing a truly impressive amount of judgement and disdain into a single word.

“No!” Beth replied. Yes, her brain shouted, do that. “The last thing I need is him pressing charges against you, which he would, and making it next to impossible for you to be around the kids.”

Rio nodded, taking a spoon and digging out some cookie dough. “Yeah, he’s the type,” he agreed. “I know a guy.”

Beth’s eyes widened. “What kind of guy?”

“I know a couple guys,” Rio amended. “Could steal his car, knock him around a little.”

Beth put down the spatula and moved towards him until she was standing in between his legs.

“That’s very sweet,” she told him, “but it’s better just to ignore him. He’s not exactly one to stick with something, so he’ll give up sooner or later.”

Rio ate the dough from his spoon. “If you change your mind…”

“You’ll be the first to know,” she assured him.

He went to scoop out some more dough, but Beth knocked his hand away. “You’re lucky that I let you have that first bit. You are not double dipping.”

His mouth drew into an exaggerated frown.

“No,” Beth covered his eyes with her hand, “that’s not going to work on me, mister. If I can tell Marcus he can’t have more pudding, this is nothing.”

His head drew back. “Are you saying I’m not as cute as Marcus?” He sounded disbelieving.

“He’s much cuter.” At his expression, Beth patted his cheek. “Don’t worry, honey, you’ve got lots of other stuff going for you.”

His mouth was still hanging open, so Beth leaned towards him and kissed the look off his face.

“I’ve been thinking about you all day,” she told him when she pulled back. Her voice sounded breathy, even to her ears.

“Just all day?” Rio teased. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you. Last time you didn’t let me taste you. We’re gonna have to fix that.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I don’t think you’re going to get any complaints from me,” she said.

“You would think,” he tugged her in the direction the bedroom, “but I seem to recall you not letting me go down on you last time.”

Beth hummed. “Because I wanted you.”

Rio kissed her, sliding his hands into her hair to hold her in place.

“Wait,” Beth said, grabbing the bowl to shove into the fridge so that she could finish the cookies later. When she turned back to Rio, she found that he had followed her and bent to lift her into his arms. More sure of him now, Beth just wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her mouth to his jaw.

“Take me to bed,” she told him.

Rio nodded. “I can do that.”

He carried her down the hall and toppled her back onto the bed, following closely but catching himself on his forearms before he could crush her.

She’d been expecting him to go for the buttons of her shirt, but they stayed like that - just making out, touching. Every so often, he’d pull away to suck a kiss into her neck or collarbone. 

Beth worked her hand up beneath his t-shirt so that she was touching the warm skin of his back. She could imagine it now - the ink beneath her fingers. The more time that they spent together, the more the images tattooed themselves into her memory. She arched her back slightly, wanting him to touch her properly.

Rio made a noise in the back of his throat and pressed even closer, letting most of his weight rest on her.

Beth removed her hands from Rio’s back, tried to slide them between their bodies, but they were pressed too close.

“Yeah?” He asked, pulling away, giving her the space she needed.

She started to unbutton her top. As she fumbled with the closures, he reached back to grab the neck of his t-shirt and pulled it off, tossing it somewhere. She had to lift herself up to get her shirt off, but Rio stopped her from undoing her bra.

Instead, he nudged her back down and lowered his head so that he could brush his lips over the line where skin and lace met.

“This is pretty,” he said about the ivory lace bra.

“It was expensive,” Beth found herself saying.

Before she could groan at her response, he hummed and bit her nipple lightly. “Worth it. You just have a rainbow of these?” He asked, lifting his head. His expression was slightly mischievous.

“No,” she laughed.

“You should,” Rio said, pulling the straps off of her shoulders. The skin beneath was slightly indented and red. He frowned.

Beth set her hand on his side. “Yeah, that’s kind of what happens when you have boobs. It’s not very glamorous, so we like to pretend it doesn’t happen.”

He didn’t look comforted by that response, but he pressed little kisses along the lines that the straps had left in her skin.

“You’re so goddamn beautiful,” he commented when he lifted his head up, shimmying a little lower down.

Beth could feel her cheeks burning.

“Now who can’t take a compliment,” Rio teased. “You’re beautiful, Elizabeth.” He placed a hand on her cheek. “So fucking beautiful.”

Her cheeks couldn’t possibly get any redder as he gave her a shallow kiss.

“Want to know why?” He asked, rolling so that he was on his side next to her on the bed, his erection digging into her hip through their pants.

She shook her head. “No.” There was no way in hell she was ready for whatever Rio would say.

“No?” His hand moved to her belly. “Not today then. But one day,” he promised, undoing the button on her jeans and sliding the zipper down. “Take these off for me.”

That she could do, kicking her jeans off somewhere near the bed and keeping her panties on. They didn’t match her bra. Instead, they were a simple peach cotton that for some reason made Rio smile.

“What?” She asked.

He looked up at her. “You told me I wasn’t allowed to say,” he replied, then returned his attention to her panties.

Beth frowned, not entirely understanding.

“Open your legs for me, baby,” Rio said, moving his lips downwards, just barely making contact with her skin.

She spread her legs and he settled between them. Despite appearances, his shoulders never felt particularly lean when they were pressing her thighs apart.

Opening his mouth, he lowered it until it was pressing right over her entrance and licked the cotton covering her, pushing his tongue into her.

Beth’s hips lifted from the mattress slightly, making him chuckle. “‘M gonna take my time today,” he said before moving his tongue to tease her clit.

The promise in his voice made her shiver. “Oh,” she breathed.

He hooked his fingers on the sides of her panties and started to tug them slowly down her legs.

Rio settled on his belly, still wearing his jeans, propping himself up on his elbows between her thighs. Bringing his hand to his mouth, he licked his finger tips and set them over her cunt. He didn’t move at first, just resting there, and when he did move, he started with small motions, just a tiny up and down press, growing by degrees.

The tips of his fingers just rubbing up and down was driving Beth a little bit mad. She wanted to squirm under his attention, but whenever she started to, he made a noise and she settled back down.

She stared up at the ceiling, unable to look at him between her thighs. She startled when the palm of his other hand came up and wrapped around her thigh.

Rio parted her folds and lowered his head to lick and suck at the newly exposed skin. 

Beth jumped, but was held in place by his other hand, still wrapped around her thigh.

He kept his actions shallow, just a step past teasing.

“Rio,” Beth sighed.

He nodded, but didn’t say anything or pull away. Just kept licking her like she was a treat or something. He latched onto her clit and sucked.

Her thighs tried to close around his head, but only one of them was capable of movement. It slapped against the side of his head and he chuckled, pulling back to just brush his lower lip over that sensitive little bundle of nerves.

“You okay, Elizabeth?”

She nodded.

“Because I can stop if you need me to,” he teased her.

“Don’t you dare!”

He buried his laugh against her cunt, moving his stubble against the insides of her thighs in a particularly wonderful way that just heightened the sensations that his tongue was causing.

Beth found herself lifting her hips from the mattress. Rather than holding her down, Rio rode the motion with her, using the opportunity to slide one long finger inside of her as he did.

She clenched around him as he continued to lap at her clit, establishing a rhythm with his finger.

Her hands fisted in the pillow beneath her head as her hips hitched, searching in vain for more.

“Please, Rio.”

He took his mouth off of her. “Please, Rio, what?” He asked.

“I need to come.”

“Yeah, I figure you do,” Rio said. “Gonna come on my face?”

Beth nodded. “Yes.”

“And then what?”

Beth blinked. “What?”

“What happens after you come on my mouth, Elizabeth?” Rio’s question made her flush. “Tell me.”

“You fuck me,” she replied.

He smiled. “I do, do I?”

She shifted her hips in an attempt to get him to move. “What else do you want?”

“Nah, you’re good, darling,” he said, then pressed added another finger inside of her and set his mouth to her clit.

She gasped. He kept at it, bringing her closer to orgasm, then pulling away to trail kisses across her thighs.

The fourth time that he did it, Beth swore when he shifted his mouth to her belly. “Fuck!”

When she looked down at Rio, his eyes were bright. She opened her mouth to tell him to keep going when he lowered his head again and gave her the pressure that she so badly needed.

As Beth came, her back arched almost painfully, her fingers curled in the bedspread. She was letting out little cries, like she was hiccoughing.

Rio brought her down gently, nuzzling her hip and belly.

Eventually, she melted into the bed. “Oh god.”

He rose up from between her thighs to kiss her briefly, laughing as he did. “I won’t say it.”

Beth groaned. “Saying that you won’t say it is as bad as saying it.”

He buried his face in her neck and began to tease her shoulder with his teeth. She could feel him through his jeans, which couldn’t have been comfortable, so she reached down to free him. He groaned, lifting up so that it was easier to push his jeans and underwear completely off.

He was leaking as she wrapped her hand around him and stroked from base to tip.

Rio hissed. “Harder.”

Beth tightened her grip on him. “Like that?”

He nodded, face still buried in her neck, though his teeth had stopped scrapping her skin. Instead, he was breathing, open mouthed, into her collarbone.

As she rubbed her thumb over the head, receiving another little spurt of pre-cum for her efforts, Beth marvelled at how easily he gave himself over to her. She twisted her hand and his hips jerked.

His breathing picked up and he made a noise somewhere between a plea and a groan before his mouth opened and settled near the top of her breast. The next noise was muffled by her flesh, but she felt his teeth as he began to suck.

Beth was lifting her chest towards him like an offering even before she registered the slight undercurrent of pain, that quickly evaporated, subsumed by the pleasure.

The bite sharpened when he began to come, spilling onto her belly. Eventually, he collapsed against her, letting her skin fall from his mouth.

“Fuck,” he said, rubbing his stubble across her nipple, then kissing it in apology.

She nudged him off of her and went to clean herself up in the bathroom. Rio joined her after a minute, brushing the hair off the back of her neck to kiss her there when he did.

“Want me to stay tonight?” Rio asked, trailing her back to the bed.

Beth lay back down. “Yeah,” she said.

He settled on his side and started to comb his fingers through her hair. He looked thoughtful, but Beth didn’t feel like pressing him to share whatever was on his mind. Rio had never seemed to have problems communicating what he wanted or what he thought.

“You know, I don’t have a problem with condoms,” Rio said as he twirled pieces of Beth’s hair around his fingers, tugging slightly. “Even if we use them forever.”

Beth could feel the flush spreading across her cheeks, slightly surprised at the topic especially considering how she’d just brought him to orgasm with her hand. “But guys don’t like using condoms.”

He stopped playing with her hair and tilted her face towards his. “Your ex tell you that?”

Beth didn’t even need to answer.

“Fuck, I’m gonna beat the shit out of him,” Rio muttered. “Elizabeth,” he said, looking her dead in the eye, “it feels good either way.”

“But it feels better if -“

He set his fingers on her lips. “Doesn’t matter, sweetheart.”

Beth kissed his fingertips.

“He tell you other stuff too?” Rio asked, setting his hand on her ribcage.

“Like what?”

Rio shrugged. “All kinds of things he could have told you. Or maybe didn’t tell you. Like how beautiful you are.”

Beth lowered her eyes, biting her lip.

“What’s that look for?” Rio’s hand came back to tug her bottom lip free. “Huh?”

“We were together for a long time,” Beth hedged. Rio made a show of settling in. “We both changed a lot from when we were teenagers.”

She hunted for the words to explain. “He - I think that -“

Rio waited patiently.

“He always compared me to who I used to be,” she settled on. “I don’t think he did it on purpose, but, he looked at me and he remembered what -“

“What you looked like when you were fifteen?” Rio’s tone was completely disbelieving. He sat up slightly so that he was hovering over her. “When you were eighteen?”

Beth shrugged.

“You hadn’t even finished developing yet,” he said, shaking his head. “That doesn’t even account for the fact that you had children. Of course your body was going to -“ he cut himself off.

His head cocked to the side. “The other morning, when you said you had stuff to work on. What were you talking about?”

“I know that I don’t have the best relationship with my body,” Beth admitted. “That’s not all on Dean, it really isn’t. I think at least part of it’s a byproduct of getting boobs when I did. All of a sudden, men were paying attention to me when I didn’t want them to.”

He pressed his forehead against hers and sighed. “Shit. Anybody try anything?”

Beth shook her head. “No, it never got that far. But I could just tell that they were looking. So I started to dress different, stopped running around when another girl’s mom told me that showing myself off like that was an invitation to the boys. I know it wasn’t,” she cut off whatever Rio was about to say. “I know that. But I still think about it.”

Rio kissed her cheek.

“Yoga has been good and doing things that I enjoy. Annie and Ruby help,” Beth went on. “There’s still a little voice in my head though, saying that kind of thing.”

Rio nodded. “You talk to somebody?”

“Like a therapist?”

“Or a fitness instructor, something like that. I know there’s a class at the boxing gym I go to that’s focused on body positivity and comfort. Figuring out what’s good for you. Helping you remember that you’ve got control.” Rio’s hand cupped her elbow. “Maybe something like that would be good to try out.”

“Maybe.” Beth knew that that sounded very vague and unsure.

Rio kept looking right at her. “You know that I don’t think like him, right? Not just because I didn’t know you when you fifteen.” He frowned, lifting his hand to rest on her cheek. “That’s just - it’s not how I am.”

Beth nodded, placing her hand over top of his. “I know,” she said, meaning it. “I know that you’re different and that’s not because you tell me that you are. Ruby said to me one time that a nice guy doesn’t have to tell you that he’s nice.”

“You calling me a nice guy?” Rio asked.

“Maybe,” Beth kissed him, just a short press of lips. “I know that you’re a good one. That’s got nothing to do with niceness.”

“I’ve made my fair share of mistakes,” he said.

Beth stroked her fingers along the curve of his ear. “Yeah?”

“You forget that fast that I’ve done time?” Rio asked carefully.

“You were a kid,” Beth said.

He chuckled. “Most of the world doesn’t care about those distinctions. I can’t go on Marcus’ field trips, did you know that? Because I have a record.”

“Aren’t those sealed?”

“That’s pretty selective,” Rio said. “Wanted to coach his soccer team when he first started playing. Couldn’t do that either.”

Beth squeezed his hand. “I’m sorry.”

He shrugged. “Not your fault. ‘Sides, I can’t be that upset about shit that’s in place to protect my kid. I just -“ he sighed.

“Wish that you could explain rather than just being dismissed out of hand?”

He nodded.

Beth pressed closer to him. Leaning in, she pressed a kiss to the sacred heart on his chest.

“Hey,” he said, nudging her to look up at him, “no need to be maudlin.”

“You feel lucky,” Beth remembered what he’d said on their first date.

His hand settled on her cheek. “More and more lately.”

They fell asleep twined together.

———————

“I just remembered something Marcus said.” Beth came out of the washroom the next morning and walked back to Rio. “It’s your birthday soon?”

“Yup,” he answered. “You gonna make me a cake?”

Beth climbed into bed and kissed his chin. “What kind?”

“What are my choices?”

“Anything,” Beth told him. It felt like such a nice start to the day, relaxing in bed with Rio, talking. Even if he did insist that she snored.

“Then I’m gonna need a day or two to think about it,” Rio said.

“You don’t have a favourite type of cake?” Beth lifted her head from his chest.

He shrugged. “My mom’s?”

“And what kind is it?” Beth rolled her eyes.

“But that’s her thing,” he said. “Now I get two cakes, I gotta choose carefully.”

“Now I’m curious. What kind of cake is it?”

“Not telling,” Rio said, pulling her head back down. “Gonna ask me what I want for my birthday?”

She smiled into his chest. “Is this you saying you want presents?”

“I want a weekend,” he said. “Just you and me.”

“Oh?” Beth’s voice cracked a little bit at the end of the syllable.

“Maybe drive somewhere for a couple days. Or just hole up here or at my place,” he laughed. “Get up to some trouble.”

“What kind of trouble is that?” Beth asked.

Rio rolled them so that he was on top. “Thought you’d never ask.” He kissed her, lifting the hem of her sleep shirt as he did.

———————————

Their schedules didn’t line up again for a few days and Rio had to content himself with texts and phone calls. Even those had to be on the brief side as Beth ran around taking kids to activities and Rio worked on some new commissions for big pieces.

The longer this thing with Beth went on, the more important Rio realized that it was. 

He hadn’t been celibate after he and Cassie broke up, he’d even dated a few people for a while. But the longest one had lasted ten weeks and he’d never introduced her to Marcus.

Now here he was, planning his spare time to maximize the amount that he could spend with Beth. He went to the grocery store and found himself wondering if he should pick up some of the yogurt he knew she liked. It took him five minutes of staring at the fridge to bite the bullet and grab it, dropping it into the cart. If she didn’t eat it, maybe Marcus would, though Rio doubted it.

He’d asked Tara at the gym about the classes she ran, but hadn’t figured out how to pass the information along to Beth without making it seem like he was trying to get her to work out or something equally dick-ish.

Finally, it came time for him to visit while the kids were around. 

The front garden had changed a little bit as it got hotter, but it was still pretty, drawing Rio’s eye as he walked up to the door.

Beth opened it before he could knock, giving him a little grin. “Come on, we’re in the backyard.” She was more dressed down than he’d ever seen her. A cream coloured lightweight coverup dress mostly unbuttoned over a green one piece bathing suit.

He raised his eyebrows, but stepped inside and gave her a quick kiss. “What are we doing in the backyard?”

“Well,” Beth led him through to the back door, “we’ve got the sprinkler on and Danny’s building a race track for Hot Wheels. Or something.”

They went out onto the back patio. Emma was the first one to notice him and she froze right before the sprinkler came back around. She just barely managed to close her eyes in time and by the time they opened again, Jane had seen him too.

She ran over, wearing a bathing suit the same colour as her mom’s. “Hi!” She greeted him, stopping just before she ran into him and soaked his jeans. “Mommy said you were coming over!”

“Hey Jane,” Rio greeted her, taking a seat on the edge of the stones with Beth. Now even with Jane’s height, he saw Emma approaching as well while Danny and Kenny hung back. “How are you today?”

“I’m good,” Jane told him, starting to shiver. “We set up the sprinkler and it’s lots of fun. Did you bring your bathing suit?”

“I did not,” Rio admitted. Beth leaned over, wrapping a beach towel around Jane.

Jane nodded. “Next time.”

Emma had reached them. “Hi.” Beth had said that she was naturally shyer than Jane and Rio’s interactions with her had been limited to saying hello and being in the same vicinity as her.

“Hi Emma. I’m Rio.”

“Mom told us,” Emma said, shifting in place and accepting the towel that Beth handed her.

Rio smiled. “She told me that you’re a big reader.”

Emma nodded.

“Anything good lately?”

“I’m reading Harry Potter by myself,” she said, turning her eyes towards her sister, who had just wedged herself between Beth and Rio on the stone step. “Have you read Harry Potter?”

“I have,” Rio replied. “Which one are you reading now?”

That was enough to draw Emma into a discussion about books, helping her feel more at ease. It took Danny and Kenny a few more minutes to approach, but they were just as polite and curious as their sisters.

After a little while, Beth sent Emma in to fetch snacks, which turned out to mean sugar cookies that had been cut into rings and decorated like pool floats.

“You make these?” Rio held up a blue and green polka dot one after he bit into it.

“She did!” Jane answered even as Beth nodded. “She let me help with the sprinkles.”

“They’re delicious,” he said, finishing it off. Rio looked at the plate and took another cookie, making sure that it was one with sprinkles on it as Jane beamed at him.

“What’s this about a Hot Wheels track?” He asked Danny.

Danny seemed surprised to be asked about it, but he showed Rio the set-up he’d been building with his older brother.

“I’m construction,” Kenny said, sitting at the picnic table. “Danny likes math and he’s really good at it.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t too great at math in school,” Rio said, stretching his legs out. “Then I figured out that most of it is actually pretty useful.”

Danny nodded enthusiastically. “That’s what I keep telling him! Even if he doesn’t want to build stuff, being able to calculate taxes on the fly means that -“ he trailed off after looking at his brother’s face, then shrugged.

Rio smiled at Danny’s enthusiasm, but obvious care for Kenny’s feelings.

“Yeah, I wasn’t too great at hearing that piece of advice either,” he drawled. “Every time that someone told me that I might need to know something later, I’d just brush it off. I think my mom gets a little too smug whenever I have to do math in real life.”

Kenny nodded, giving Rio a small grin.

“Besides,” Rio said, to both of them, “we’re good at different stuff. I can’t bake even half as good as your mom.”

“Nobody can,” Danny commented, taking a seat next to Kenny. “She’s the best.”

Rio laughed. “Yeah, she is.”

Later, after lunch, Rio found himself sitting on the floor with Emma, helping her fill in the background on a picture. “You do art, right?” Emma said after a few moments.

From the corner of his eye, Rio saw Kenny’s head come up from the iPad.

“Yup,” Rio replied, adding a pair of sunglasses onto the sun.

“Did you draw the pictures on your arms?”

He shook his head. “Other people did mine, but I do tattoos for other people.”

“My dad says that tattoos are for criminals.”

Rio turned his head towards Kenny. “Does he?”

Kenny nodded once.

“There’s lots of criminals that don’t have tattoos and lots of people with tattoos that have never committed any crimes,” Rio said. “Sometimes, there are criminals with tattoos who want to turn their lives around. It isn’t as easy as saying this is good and that’s bad.”

Kenny didn’t say anything.

For a moment, there was just the sound of marker on paper and the faint noise of Jane and Danny helping Beth clean up the remains of lunch. Beth had already promised to send cookies home with him.

“To share with Marcus,” she had stressed as Rio had tried his best to look innocent. “And I’ll ask him how they were, so don’t even think about eating them all.”

“Aunt Annie has tattoos,” Emma spoke up, drawing a squiggle for a bird.

“She does,” Rio nodded.

“Auntie Ruby says that yours are pretty.” Emma smiled up at him. “Can you show me how to draw a bird?”

“How about we start with pencils? It’s a bit easier than working with markers.” Rio looked through the case of art supplies, finding a few - mostly blunt.

Emma hopped up. “I’ll get my pencil sharpener!”

———————

Beth wasn’t sure what she expected when she went into the living room after tidying the kitchen, but she couldn’t help but feel that she shouldn’t have been surprised to find Rio giving Emma an art lesson while Kenny pretended not to listen.

“Pretty!” Jane complimented her sister on the bird that Emma was carefully drawing before throwing her arms around Rio’s neck. Or rather, trying to. He had to duck a little for her to be able to reach. “Can you draw a cat?”

“I can try,” Rio drawled. “You want me to teach you how to draw a cat?”

Jane shook her head, whacking Rio in the face with one of her pigtails. “No. I want you to draw me a cat. Doing ballet.”

Rio’s eyebrow went up. “What kind of cat?”

“Leopard.”

“We’ll see what I can do,” Rio said, taking a new piece of scrap paper. He looked up at Beth and smiled. “Any other requests?”

She came up behind the couch and set her hand on Kenny’s head. He tilted his head back. Glancing around, she realized that Danny had disappeared, but he wasn’t gone long, coming back with his current Lego build.

“Come on,” he nudged his older brother, “help me build a tower.”

Kenny sighed the put-upon sigh that every eldest child mastered young, but got off the couch and went to join Danny. Normally, they would have bugged her to be allowed to do this on the dining room table or something, but they obviously wanted to listen in and watch Rio.

They were all pretty quiet as Rio drew Jane’s picture. Danny and Kenny murmured to each other, glancing over at Rio every few minutes. Emma was working on her own picture, but she pushed herself up onto her knees to watch how Rio moved the coloured markers over the page.

“You have to sign it,” Jane said once the picture was done. “When we went to the museum there were all these scribbles in the corner and Mommy said that artists sign stuff so that people know who did it.”

Rio signed the bottom of the drawing. “There,” he said, sliding it towards her.

Jane picked it up, running her fingers along the barre that he’d drawn. “This is just like in Emmie’s ballet class. How did you know?”

“My niece did ballet for a while,” Rio explained. “I picked her up a few times.”

“She doesn’t do it anymore?” Jane asked, setting the paper down carefully. “Did she fall and hurt herself like Sammy West?”

Rio obviously had no idea who that was, but he shook his head. “No, she wanted to do something different. She plays baseball instead.”

“Marcus plays baseball too.”

“He does,” Rio confirmed.

Jane slid over to sit on his thigh. “Does he play baseball with his cousin?”

“She’s older,” Rio said, “but they play for fun together sometimes. Mina likes to practice throwing and catching. Marcus is usually pretty willing to play.”

“You should bring Marcus next time that you come over,” Jane told him. “Then he can meet Buddy.” The dog picked up his head at his name.

“He’d like that,” Rio replied. “He was hoping you’d come to our place though. We don’t have a backyard or a dog, but I think we’re pretty alright.”

Jane looked to Beth.

“Sounds good to me,” Beth said. “If you think you can handle this one.”

Rio chuckled. “I think we’ll do okay. Right?”

“Right,” Jane nodded.

One of Jane’s hands settled on Rio’s head and she stroked his hair. “Your hair is really soft,” she said, then reversed direction, “but prickly if you do this.”

Rio, clearly amused, nodded. “That’s very true.”

“Mom said we could see one of Marcus’ games,” Jane went on like she wasn’t petting him as though he were a cat. Beth opened her mouth to say something to Jane, but Rio caught her eye and smiled. He was comfortable being used as a jungle gym and petting zoo, it seemed.

“He’s excited for you to come see him play,” Rio told her.

“Is his mom gonna be there?”

“Jane,” Beth said, “you don’t need to ask all these questions.”

After glancing briefly at her mother, Jane turned her attention back to Rio, waiting to see if he would answer.

“I’m not sure,” he said. “She works at the hospital and it’s been really busy lately, so she hasn’t been able to come to many of Marcus’ games this year.”

Jane nodded. “Is she a doctor? Like on Grey’s Anatomy!”

“You watch that show?” Rio asked.

“No, but Mommy and Aunt Ruby and Aunt Annie do and they cry,” Jane informed him.

Rio hummed. “Well, Marcus’ mom is a nurse in the Emergency Room.”

“Oh.”

Beth watched Jane take this in.

“Like the man who helped when I broke my arm,” Emma reminded her sister.

“You broke your arm?” Rio looked to Emma.

“Last summer,” Emma raised her left arm, “I fell and another kid landed on me. It hurt.”

“Yeah, I bet you were pretty brave though.” Rio smiled at her. Emma flushed, looking down at her drawing. “She was, wasn’t she?” He directed the comment to Jane, who nodded.

“Can we play Snakes and Ladders?” Jane turned to Beth.

“Sure honey,” Beth told her. “Go get it from the closet.”

Jane was off of Rio’s leg and running down the hall even before Beth was finished talking. She looked to her other kids.

“Anyone else want to play?”

The afternoon passed with board games, broken up by the kids wanting to give Rio a full tour of the house and their rooms, just like Marcus had wanted to do with her. Beth trailed after them, listening as he commented on the little things that each of them had chosen for their rooms.

Rio was observant. Beth knew that. But watching him draw Danny into explaining the different types of invertebrates on the posters Danny had up on the wall or coax Kenny into a conversation about the comics he’d been getting into lately was something else.

Part of her was tempted to describe him as charming, but someone had once told her “charming is a verb and if someone is charming, they’re trying to get something from you.” And that wasn’t Rio. He seemed to have a genuine interest in a lot of things and what he didn’t have an interest in, he was happy to hear about.

“Sorry about them,” Beth laughed as she walked Rio out the kitchen door to his car. “They can be a little bit nosy.”

“Wonder where they get that from?” Rio teased her. “They had questions. Curiosity is good.”

Beth groaned. “Maybe, but it can also be tiring.”

They reached his car and Rio leaned against it, allowing Beth to stand between his legs. She set the package of cookies she’d packed up for him and Marcus on the hood.

“I’m pretty sure that Jane’s going to want to take that picture everywhere with her for the next month,” she told him, running her hands up and down the front of his shirt.

“You dissing my leopard in a leotard?” Rio wrapped his hands around her hips and pulled her a little closer.

Beth buried her face in his neck and laughed. “It was a very cute leopard and I think she appreciated that you gave it her hair bow.”

Rio kissed her temple. “What can I say? The ladies love me.”

She poked him in the stomach. “Kenny and Danny seemed okay too, right?” She asked, straightening back up.

“They’re adjusting to the idea,” Rio said, “but they seemed like they were doing fine.”

“Did anything happen when I was cleaning up with Danny and Jane?” Beth had been wondering about that ever since she’d walked into the living room earlier.

He shrugged. “Emma had some questions about art and tattoos. Kenny said something about his dad not thinking highly of tattoos.”

Beth tensed, but Rio shook his head before she could say anything.

“Elizabeth, I’m used to it.” He hooked his fingers through her belt loops. “And Kenny didn’t seem malicious, he just seemed…a bit confused.”

“It’s the hardest for him,” she told him, letting her head fall against his chest. “He remembers me and Dean when we were happy together.”

Rio didn’t say anything.

“He’s had some trouble at school,” Beth admitted. “It was at the end of the year though, so it kind of got pushed to the side but I’m worried about what will happen when -“

“When he goes back in the fall,” Rio finished for her when she trailed off with a sigh. “He talking to somebody?”

“I’ve tried to get him to talk to me.”

He squeezed her lightly. “Not you or Dean,” he said. “Someone who specializes in kids with parents going through divorce.”

“Dean won’t hear it. He just said that we should sign him up for another sport or something so he can get more self confidence.” Beth buried her face in his shirt and breathed in.

Rio rubbed up and down her back. “Yeah, well he’s a fucking idiot, Elizabeth. You should consider it. See if Kenny would be willing to go. Sometimes it’s easier to share things with people that don’t know us.”

“Yeah?” Beth’s voice was slightly muffled by his shirt, but he heard her.

“You wouldn’t believe some of the shit that people share with me when they’re in my chair,” Rio said. “The good, the bad, the ugly. It’s cathartic. I’m not a therapist, so I’m not about to go handing out advice and shit, but I can listen. Every so often maybe I know enough about what they’re going through that I can say something.”

Beth felt tears welling up in her eyes and blinked them away.

“You have primary custody,” Rio went on, “and there’s no judge in the world that will see you taking your child to therapy as a bad thing if he tries to challenge you over it. Do what you think is right for Kenny.”

“Thank you,” Beth said, lifting her head up.

“For what?” Rio asked, tilting her face upwards.

She leaned in and kissed him. “For being you, I guess.”

“In that case,” Rio said, “I should thank you too.”

“Don’t tease!”

“I’m not.” Rio pulled her face to his and sealed their lips together for a brief, but deep kiss. “I better get gone,” he said when they parted.

Beth nodded. “I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

Rio nodded. “Sounds good. I’m done at 6, but I’ve got some stuff to finish up at the shop, so I’ll be there late. Call after the kids go to bed.”

“Kay.”

He picked up the cookies and held them up. “I’ll share these with Marcus.”

Beth laughed and shoved him gently towards the open car door.

“Bye, Elizabeth.” He gave her another kiss. Then another.

“Bye.”

She watched him drive away, then headed back into the house to figure out dinner.

“You like him?” Kenny asked later, curled up against Beth’s side. The other three had already gone upstairs to bed, but as the eldest, Kenny had a bit more leeway with his bedtime.

Beth wrapped her arm around him. “I do.”

Kenny nodded. “He seems nice.”

“He is,” Beth agreed.

Kenny shifted against Beth, sitting up.

“What is it, baby?” Beth pushed his hair back. He shrugged. “Is it about me and your dad?”

Another shrug, but he looked away.

“We haven’t really talked about it, have we?” Beth pulled him back against her side. “Just you and me.”

Kenny didn’t say anything.

“I know it can be hard to talk,” Beth said. “And I think that maybe I’ve been trying to get you to talk to me without thinking about how maybe I’m not who you need.”

“I don’t talk with dad about it,” he quickly replied, like he was trying to reassure her of something.

Beth smiled, not feeling happy in the slightest. “I know, but I think it’s important that you talk to somebody.”

“Like who?”

Beth kissed the top of his head, the same way she’d been doing ever since he was a baby. “Maybe a counsellor or someone else who knows what you’re going through. Then you can talk to someone without feeling like you’re taking sides.”

He stiffened. So that was part of it.

“Maybe,” Kenny said.

That was good enough for now. She hugged him. “It’s something we can think about, okay?”

“Okay.”

They sat like that for a little while longer, until it was time for Kenny to go to bed too. Once he was upstairs, Beth started to search for someone that might be a good fit.

Before going to sleep, she typed out a text to Rio.

_Goodnight._

Without really meaning to, Beth pulled up the emoji menu. It was like she blinked and then her thumb was hovering over the little heart. 

Her actual heart skipped a beat. 

She bit her lip.

If it was Annie or Ruby, she’d do it without even needing to think about it. But were they there yet? How would Rio interpret it? Was it too flippant? She sighed, her mind already providing her with several different scenarios.

She moved her thumb away from the heart and pressed send.

**Author's Note:**

> As usual, thank you to medievalraven and neveroffanon for beta-ing. Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting and leaving kudos!
> 
> Title from Janelle Monae’s Pynk.


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